After dozens of rejections, along with an experiment in self-publishing, Ruth Fox Sinclair decided to give her middle-grade book another try at traditional publishing. She could hardly believe it when WiDo’s submission editor Allie Maldonado offered her a contract.

Sinclair states, “I was surprised and delighted all at once when Allie Maldonado said WiDo was very interested! It made a long and emotional journey completely worth it.”

“WiDo™ doesn’t publish much middle-grade fiction,” says Maldonado. “For us to consider it, the book must have wide appeal, something people of all ages will read and enjoy. Ruth’s book is like that. It’s a charming, captivating fantasy tale with larger implications about how we categorize and treat people different from ourselves.”

The story came to life while Sinclair was working on another unrelated manuscript. Suddenly she saw a boy standing by his front door as his parents welcome his new brother – who happens to be a monster.

The author says, “I had to drop the other story right away and get started on this one! When it was finished, I realized there was still more to the story of the humans and monsters. I got started on the next book right away. Before I knew it, it had expanded into a series of four books.”

Over the next few years, she sent the manuscript to every publisher she could find. “Finally, in despair and with an inbox crammed full of rejection emails,” Sinclair says, “I thought I’d follow a friend’s advice and try self-publishing. Self-publishing is brilliant! And it works so well for so many people. But it didn’t work for me. After two months, I called it quits. I deleted the self-published version.”

After a few weeks of wallowing in self-pity, the author realized she still couldn’t bring herself to give up on her book. She started submitting to traditional publishers again. One glimmer of hope came when a local publisher said they really liked it, but the book didn’t fit with their current titles.

“That gave me the nudge I needed to keep submitting. I’m pretty sure I would’ve given up entirely if it hadn’t been for that email. And coincidentally, it wasn’t long after that I stumbled across WiDo,” Sinclair says.

She found out about WiDo from an article that appeared in a writer’s newsletter she receives. “After viewing their website, I discovered they had an approach to books that very much matched my own – books that tell good stories! Needless to say, I was beyond overjoyed when they thought mine deserved to sit alongside their other fantastic titles.”

“Ruth is a talented, dedicated writer with a professional approach that I like to see,” Maldonado states. “She’s the type of person we like to have on our roster. It’s also impressive that she’s already completed the sequels to her book, which is important when you’re dealing with middle-grade fantasy. We are glad she found us and wants to be part of WiDo Publishing.”

The author, who has a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing and Editing, writes in every spare second she has. “When I’m not writing, I’m thinking about what I’m going to write,” she says.

Ruth Fox Sinclair is an Australian writer. Her first book, The City of Silver Light, was published in 2012, and the sequel, Across the Bridge of Ice, followed in 2015. She loves to write, paint, and cook. She lives in a city near Melbourne, Victoria, with her husband, two crazy cats, and an ever-expanding library of books. You can find out more about Ruth Fox on her website, www.ruth-fox.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RuthFoxAuthorandArtist.com, or follow her on Twitter at @_ruthfox_

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